Nolen To Represent Australia

Jockeys John Murtagh, Ryan Moore and Christophe Lemaire tied for first in the 2009 Hong Kong Jockey Invitational

Jockey Luke Nolen has been invited by the Hong Kong Jockey Club to represent Australia in the upcoming Cathay Pacific International Jockey’s Championship.

Nolen will go head to head with riders from eight other countries in a 4 race series to be conducted at the Happy Valley racecourse on Wednesday December 7th.

In announcing this years invitees, William A Nader, Executive Director of Racing of the Hong Kong Jockey Club said “The list of competitors features the winning riders of this year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Melbourne Cup as well as the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

“In addition, the winning jockeys of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup 2010 and this year’s Epsom Oaks and Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup will be on display. It will be an unparalleled battle between elite jockeys from around the world, staged in the unique setting of Happy Valley Racecourse”.

The list of invited jockeys include:

Australia: Luke Nolen

New Zealand: James McDonald

France: Maxime Guyon and Melbourne Cup winner Christophe Lemaire

Germany: Prix de l’Arc winner Andrasch Starke

Ireland: Champion John Murtagh

Japan: Yuichi Fukunaga

Great Britain: 3 time British Champion Ryan Moore

USA: Corey Nakatani

The local Hong Kong riders will be represented by 11 times premiership winner Douglas Whyte while the remaining 2 spots will go to the next jockey placed behind Whyte on the premiership and the leading local jockey as of the 24th November. On current standings that would be either Brett Prebble or Darren Beadman who are tied for 2nd and M L Yeung or Matthew Chadwick.

The Champion jockey on the night will pocket HK$200,00 with HK$100000 for the runner up.